Ernest Rogers Millington (15 February 19169 May 2009) was a British Common Wealth and later

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP). Following the death of

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo, CBE,( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo ...

on 10 March 2006, Millington was the only living former MP from the 38th Parliament, elected prior to the 1945 general election. He was also the last surviving person to have served as a

Common Wealth Party The Common Wealth Party (CW) was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom with parliamentary representation from the middle of the Second World War until the year after its end. Thereafter it continued in being, essentially as a pre ...

MP.

Biography

Education

Millington was educated at

Chigwell Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the Lond ...

, the

College of St Mark and St John Plymouth Marjon University, commonly referred to as Marjon, is the trading name of the University of St Mark and St John, a university based primarily on a single campus on the northern edge of Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom. Formerly named Univ ...

, Chelsea, and Birkbeck College, London. He served with the RAF Bomber Command during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, where he rose to the rank of

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1945.

Parliamentarian

He was elected as MP for

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in April 1945, for the short-lived

. The vacancy was created by the death of the previous Conservative member, Colonel

John Macnamara Colonel John Robert Jermain Macnamara (11 October 1905 – 22 December 1944) was a British Conservative Party politician and officer of the British Army who was killed while fighting in Italy during the Second World War. He was the last sittin ...

, killed on active service in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Whereas the Conservative, Liberal and Labour parties had agreed an electoral truce, the Common Wealth Party refused to accept this. The local CW Party had six members and soon raised £200 for the electoral campaign. After a brief discussion the local

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

decided not to support him. Nevertheless, he received the support of much of the labour movements as he advocated a distinctly

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

programme. Millington wore his DFC ribbon on his uniform when attending the House of Commons, as was customary at the time. Many years later he fondly recalled being reprimanded by a Conservative MP who bemoaned the fact that Millington's ribbon was being incorrectly worn. Millington told the BBC, "I was approached by a Tory MP dressed in civilian clothes and with a hand in his trouser pocket. 'Your DFC ribbon is worn too wide'. He was, I think, not expecting my reaction. 'If you are talking to me as an RAF officer: stand to attention; take your hand out of your trouser pocket and address a senior officer as Sir. If you are talking to me as a fellow Member of Parliament, mind your business and bugger off.'" Millington saw himself "as a communist with a small c", and advocated a socialist program based on nationalisation of the land and public ownership. At the by-election he overturned a Conservative majority of 16,624 to win by 6,431 votes, becoming the ''

Baby of the House Baby of the House is the unofficial title given to the youngest member of a parliamentary house. The term is most often applied to members of the British parliament from which the term originated. The title is named after the Father of the Hous ...

''. He was one of the first public figures to question the morality of the

area bombardment In military aviation, area bombardment (or area bombing) is a type of aerial bombardment in which bombs are dropped over the general area of a target. The term "area bombing" came into prominence during World War II. Area bombing is a form of st ...

of Germany. Millington held his seat in the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

and joined the Labour Party in April 1946. He lost his seat in the 1950 general election.

Later life

Millington rejoined the RAF in 1954, but later embarked on a career in education, becoming the head of education at Shoreditch Comprehensive School in 1965. He later retired to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where he lived until his death. Millington and his second wife emigrated to France in the early 1980s. Millington's autobiography, ''Was That Really Me?'', was published in 2006. Millington is survived by his four daughters, all of whom were by his first wife, who died in 1979.Ernest Millington MP has died aged 93
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References

External links